Dueling degrees: Why some doctors are getting a JD

As health care issues increasingly reach beyond the realm of medicine, some physicians are finding it helps to also be a lawyer.

By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. Jan. 28, 2002.

For most people, being a physician or a lawyer is enough. The education required for each degree is demanding and takes years to complete.

Standardized tests along the way require hours of studying and can be stressful. And students in law and medicine programs are traditionally known for being among the most competitive pupils on campus.

But not everyone is satisfied with having just one degree.

No one tracks the number of physician-lawyers in the United States, but estimates are that 1,500 to 6,000 people have MD-JDs or DO-JDs. And the idea of becoming a physician-lawyer is gaining popularity as health care issues increasingly intersect with government, managed care and the courtroom.

"It's a good skill set to have to understand how health care decisions are affected by multiple entities," said Paul R. Mehne, PhD, associate dean for academics at the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey's Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Camden. "And if physicians can play an important role in the development of policies, everyone wins."

In most cases, physician-lawyers pursue their medical degrees first and then go back to get their law degrees after setting up practice. But 16 schools offer a combined physician-lawyer program. At any age, the reasons for pursuing an MD and JD are diverse.

Complex managed care structures and government regulations have piqued some physicians' interest. Some want the knowledge of both professions so they'll make better medical malpractice lawyers -- on both sides of the table. [...]